


the sentry at the door

by pheonix85



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Deleted Scene? idk, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Iron Man 2, Not A Fix-It, Not meant to be redemptive, Slice of Life, i wrote this like 6 months ago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 06:34:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19865092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pheonix85/pseuds/pheonix85
Summary: “You’re talking about a guy whose happiest day was when he shipped me off to boarding school.”“That’s not true.”-----Nick Fury has risen like a meteor through the ranks of the army. He’s out of boot camp at 19 and by the mid-70’s, he’s well on his way to the Officer’s status. Which means he gets more important assignments. One of which, is to escort genius millionaire inventor Howard Stark for a time.





	the sentry at the door

**Author's Note:**

> this was in my WIPs, and I just tied off the end trying to get the creativity flowing for other stuff, and I decided to post it. It is not meant as a Howard Redemption fic; I wrote most of it back in the wintertime after watching IM2 and that scene when they put Tony on lockdown got me thinking and...well here we are.

_**1978** _

When Nick Fury was assigned to Howard Stark’s detail, he imagined it would consist of days touring the SHIELD headquarters, attending important, high-level meetings, becoming privy to all sorts of higher than classified information. He knew this was a coveted assignment. He knew that Howard Stark was a founding member of SHIELD, he knew what this could mean for his own career.

He did not know, though, that this would mean he would be acting as Howard’s personal bodyguard.

It wasn’t _that_ much of an imposition, really. Howard was to receive an award at Edwards AFB later that night, something that the DoD was putting on. Howard had requested Fury’s presence for the day, to make sure they made it to the dinner and back alright, and Fury had been intrigued. Howard was naturally more private about his home and his family than about his work, and the younger soldier couldn’t deny he was curious.

  
What he had not expected, was to be assigned to playing watchdog of the man’s basement lab, watching as Howard’s young son forced himself downstairs.

Fury had heard what everyone else had about the young prodigy. Tony Stark was 8 years old. Tony Stark built an engine when he was 6 and circuit boards at 4. Tony Stark was the future.

But right now, he thought to himself as he stood just inside the threshold of Stark’s lab, acting as a lookout, Tony just looked to be a desperate, miserable little boy.

“Tony, I don’t want to hear any more about this,” Howard sounded tired and distracted. He picked up a glass of amber liquid and sipped. “I have already explained enough this morning why you’re going to Boston. I thought I had made this clear.”

“But Dad, Justin’s parents are sending him to the academy in the Valley. He showed me all their booklets, it’s basically the same, why can’t I….”

“Because I said so!” Howard roared, and Tony’s face fell. The boy looked down at the ground, fists clenching at his sides. Howard drained the rest of whatever was in his glass and wandered towards the kid, kneeling down on one knee in front of him. He brought a hand up to tilt Tony’s face up and frowned deeply at the tears staining the child’s cheeks. 

“You have more potential than Justin Hammer. You have more potential than all of them, and so you are going to the best school, and that just happens to be on the other side of the country.” He sighed and patted the boy on the arm. “You have to be mature about this, Tony. There’s a lot of responsibility if you’re going to run this company someday. You’re going to go to school there, then to the best schools that technology has to offer. You love tech, remember?”   
  


Tony nodded slowly, sniffling to himself. Because he did. He loved the way things connected together to make each other move, one into the other, all apart of one giant system that worked to make something work better. He loved all of it, it all made sense to him. 

But he thought about his mom, and the way she curled up in bed next to him at night when she’d read to him, and when she’d play the piano. And even the times his dad would let him sit up on the stairwell from his lab and listen to whatever he was working on, and the music he was listening to and---

“Daddy, please,” Tony whispered softly, a bashful gaze darting to the sentry at the door before finding his father’s face again. “Please don’t send me away. Please, I don’t... I don’t want to go.”

“I’ve made my decision, Anthony.” Howard's voice was hard, and he turned away, walking towards his workbench. “Now go find your mother, I have work to do.”

Nick could see the boy swallow a sob, ducking his head as far into his chest as he could before straightening up, his expression flat. “Yes, sir.”

The 8-year-old darted past him without a passing glance. He expected the boy had barely noticed he was there, save for the moment of vulnerability when he pleaded for his father’s respite. Howard dug his fingers into the bench with a soft growl and a loud huff and stood silent for a few moments before looking back up to make sure the child was, in fact, gone. When Howard was sure he was, he turned to the Sergeant who had been assigned as his guard for this week. 

“You think I’m an asshole,” Howard stated with a soft smirk, refilling his glass with an amber liquid. He held an empty glass towards the guard at the door, who declined. Howard shrugged and picked his own up, sipping at it.

“Sir, personal matters of the men to whom I am assigned are not of my concern. Sir.” Nick said simply, staying at parade rest near the door. 

“Please, drop the bullshit army guy stuff, I had enough of it during the war,” Howard said with a wave. When Nick didn’t move, Howard frowned. “You are under my authority, soldier. I said, at ease.”

It felt like a trick. But there was no other commanding officer present and he had been briefed that Howard Stark was an equivalent to an officer and so he relaxed and looked to the man. 

Howard looked tired.

“You sure you don’t want a drink? I have some very nice scotch, even just a nip?”

Nick figured it wouldn’t hurt, and that was how he found himself sitting across from the foremost mechanical engineer in his field, sipping on just a little bit of the world most expensive scotch.

“He doesn’t understand,” Howard said finally, after rambling about S.H.I.E.L.D and the military and about the deals he was currently working on. Nick didn’t react; he sat still, hand on the arm of the chair, watching the genius millionaire---his assignment, as he was required---as the man sorted through whatever he needed before they left for the base that evening. “Do you have kids, Sgt Fury?”

Nick raised a brow at that; he wasn’t aware that Howard even knew his _name_.

“I do not, sir.”

Howard raised a brow, nodding, taking another drink. “They’re a handful. They’re a lot. I’m really happy I waited until I was older.” He nodded at Fury again. “Establish yourself first. That’s the way to do it.”

Nick didn’t respond. The truth was, he’d never given any of it much thought. He had gone into the military as a means to an end, and now that he had 8 years in, on the upwards trajectory he was on, he wanted more. He wanted to excel. And he wasn’t sure a wife, 2.5 children, and a white picket fence were conducive to that sort of life. 

At least. Not in the parent he would want to be. And being around Howard, now, seeing that interaction, it only made his reservations about it stronger.

If there was silence stretching between them, Howard didn’t seem to notice. So caught up in his own concerns, he just continued on to ramble, and Fury doubted he’d ever actually cared about his answer in the first place.

“I apologize for his whining, I didn’t even know he was going to be coming down here. Usually, the door to my private study is locked.”

“He’s just a child, sir,” Nick said softly, carefully. “I think he just wants to be with his mom & dad.”

Howard snorted. “That’s exactly why he’s being sent to boarding school. He’s not a baby, he doesn’t need a nursemaid, he needs to learn how to do things without his mother following behind him to pick up his messes.” Howard shook his head with another sip. “This world is not kind to soft men.”

“Still. Seems like a pretty good kid.”

A lot better kid, Nick thought to himself, than a lot of officer’s children he came across, who were raised in far less affluent and entitled households. Howard frowned, apparently not finding it the compliment it was.

“He _is_ a good kid, he’s a good boy. Follows his mother around like a puppy, always so eager…” he scoffed. “He needs to get a little tougher. He needs to be exposed to the world, he needs to understand not everyone who is nice to him is there to help him.”

“You should tell him that more often.” Nick cleared his throat when Howard’s eyes narrowed. “Just, that he’s a good kid and all, sir. No disrespect meant, sir.”

Howard seemed angry. Looked like he was about to snap at Nick, and he worried, for a moment, about what sort of punishment would be doled out when Howard’s shoulder’s slumped and he buried his face in his hand. 

“You’re probably right.” He muttered. “God, Steve would be ashamed of me. I just---” Howard shrugged. “It’s not the same world. And the arms race, it’s going to be so aggressive, I just want him to be-----” He struggled for the word.

“Safe,” Nick supplied suddenly, uncertain of how he knew, but Howard lit up and pointed at him, falling into the seat once more, a smile on his face.

“Yes! I want him...to be safe.” He downed the remained of the scotch Nick had finished long before. “Anyway. He’s the brightest of all the kids I’ve met. I know I’m biased but genuinely, I really think…” 

And there it was, an undeniable beacon that seemed to enlighten his entire being.

“He’s the future. He is everything, and he’s just...he’s a smart, good kid. I just want to make sure he has the discipline to make it happen.”

They sat in silence for a few moments. Nick wasn’t sure what else to say; the millionaire was incredibly powerful and he didn’t want to make him angry. The sound of footsteps approaching down the stairs, fast heavy clicks of a high heel, made his decision easier and he sprung to his feet, rounding the couch to put himself in front of Howard to protect him from any danger.

Which presented itself in the diminutive form of Maria Stark. Nick shifted in place. While it was his responsibility to protect Howard Stark from any mortal threat, he was afraid---or maybe not so much, when he thought of the tearful little boy from before---that he couldn’t spare the inventor from his own wife’s wrath.

She passed by Nick without so much as a glance, storming to stand in place in front of her husband. He appeared unaffected, if not straight-up bored. He sipped at the last of his drink and set it down on the side table, looking up at her blandly. “Yes, dear?”   
  


“I need to talk to you right now.” Only now her gaze darted to the soldier in the room, before settling back again on her husband. “In private.”

“Maria…”

“Do not…” Her mouth pressed into a line. “We were going to talk to him about this, _together_.” She hissed. “Get upstairs. We have to get ready for tonight anyway.”

He stared at her quietly for a moment, then let his eyes flutter closed with a disdainful sigh. He slapped his knees and pushed himself to his feet, turning to Fury with a slight sway; attributable to the man’s ego or the alcohol, Nick couldn’t say.

“Sergeant Fury, please go wait up in the main landing for us to come downstairs, this shouldn’t take too long.” He slid a look at his wife before looking back at the soldier. “I expect the ride will be here around 6?”

Fury nodded. “Yessir. They expect us at the base no later than 7 pm, but you had stated you wanted to be early.”

Howard hummed. “That is correct. Thank you, sir.” He stuck out his hand. “I appreciate your patience with this drama.”

“Howard,” Maria’s voice was low, her tone a warning. “Get your ass upstairs right now.”

“Of course, _my love_.” He winked at Nick. “We’ll see you shortly, soldier.” And he turned, heading towards the glass doors, up to the main landing of the home and further on. 

* * *

**_2010_ **

Agent Fury watched as Tony Stark gathered his things, a few pieces of paper in a folder and a bag he’d brought by his side. 

“Hey, by the way,” Tony shoved a photo at Fury as he began to walk away, a frown on his face. “What’s this?”   
  


It was grainy, colored photo. Howard was in a fancy gray suit with a black tie, Maria in a nice red dress, and Nick, in his dress blues, standing off to the side with a smile, though clearly stiff and aware of what was going on.

“Oh,” Nick smiled softly. “I believe that was an Army Corp of Engineer function your father was being honored at. I was assigned as a part of your fathers detail that for that week.” He laughed softly. “One of my first _high profile_ assignments.” He looked up at Tony. “That was a good night.”

Tony was staring at the photo, clearly trying to place it. When he did, he blanched. “Oh. Right. I remember that it was...it was right before I went away for my first stint at boarding school.”

“Yeah. I remember that too.”

Tony’s head snapped up, and he stared at Nick. _The sentry at the door_ and Tony looked away, suddenly shy. 

“That was you, huh,” Tony scoffed. “Wasn’t aware we were acquainted before you guys needed me.”

“I don’t know that you could call it that, you didn’t say a word to me,” Nick replied. “You were going through something tough, I won’t hold it against you.”

Tony rolled his eyes, “How benevolent of you.”

Fury paused for a moment. He resisted the immediate urge to chide Stark for being a smart ass and took a deep breath. Tony was...embarrassed, it seemed; head down, his body had turned partially away from the Director and he was fiddling with the photo in his hands, feigning disinterest. 

“Howard was not the easiest guy to understand,” Fury began slowly. “And I think he got a lot wrong, and that doesn't mean he was right. But he did it because he thought it was what was best for you.”

Tony snorted and shrugged, still not raising his gaze to meet Fury’s. 

"He did care about you, Tony."

Tony let out a dark laugh, shooting Fury a sharp look. “Yeah, well, he had a funny way of showing it.”

“I’m assuming you watched the tape,” Fury cocked his head to the side. “Wouldn’t have been able to solve that problem if you hadn’t.”

  
“Tell me, _Nick_ ,” Tony replied, emphasis on the last syllable just for the sake of digging in. “Does your merry band of misfits respect anyone’s privacy, or is the whole cloak and dagger routine reserved just for the upper echelon of your entourage?”

The moment was gone. The little glimmer of who Tony may really have been ceased to be seen, hidden behind layers of sarcasm and bravado and tucked away once more, replaced by a sharp glare that dared Fury to say anything else. The Director sighed.

“We do what we must to ensure the safety of the American public.”

Tony scoffed, derisive, “Keep telling yourself that.” And he threw his bag over his shoulder, walking out without much more of a word. 

Fury watched him go quietly. Stark was brash and cocky, snide and impulsive, he rebuked authority and thought himself above a lot of things---

But--

-for a moment there, he had been something different. A little vulnerable and scared and bashful; soft, maybe, as Howard had once classified his son.

_ human. _

Fury shook his head and turned to gather the documents fanned out on the desk, packing up to disappear as if they were never there. 

Maybe Stark would surprise them all; just yet. 


End file.
